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Happy Navaratri festival to all
17 years ago
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Woman delivers ‘hermaphrodite’ twins
By Orlando DinoyMindanao BureauFirst Posted 02:21:00 02/28/2009
Filed Under: Science (general), Health
MALITA, Davao del Sur, Philippines—Twins, each with male and female genitals, were born to a 25-year-old mother here on Tuesday.
Glory Jean Ferrer, the twins’ mother, gave birth to the babies at the Malita district hospital at 7 a.m., said its resident physician, Dr. Paulito Montero.
According to Montero, the babies are hermaphrodites because they each have male and female reproductive organs.
He said one of the babies was considered “male” because he has “testicles and he urinates using his male organ [so] we have confirmed he is a boy.”
Montero said the other baby was considered “female” although she has what appears to be “balls.”
The absence of an actual testes and scrotum made her more female than male, he added. Montero said this could be the first recorded birth of twin hermaphrodites in this town. He said the babies were doing well and could be discharged from the hospital soon.
Remedial surgery
The mother, a member of the Tagakaulo tribe, said she was very happy with the birth of the babies but worried about how they would cope with having two genitals when they grow up. “I want my children to live normal lives. Maybe they can have some surgery to remedy their situation,” she said.
If there was a surgical solution to correct the twins’ condition, Ferrer said she would have to ask help from groups offering medical assistance to poor families.
She said her husband earned a small living tending their small farm.
Source: Click here
This is a service of the
Organisation Intersex International
Filed Under: Science (general), Health
MALITA, Davao del Sur, Philippines—Twins, each with male and female genitals, were born to a 25-year-old mother here on Tuesday.
Glory Jean Ferrer, the twins’ mother, gave birth to the babies at the Malita district hospital at 7 a.m., said its resident physician, Dr. Paulito Montero.
According to Montero, the babies are hermaphrodites because they each have male and female reproductive organs.
He said one of the babies was considered “male” because he has “testicles and he urinates using his male organ [so] we have confirmed he is a boy.”
Montero said the other baby was considered “female” although she has what appears to be “balls.”
The absence of an actual testes and scrotum made her more female than male, he added. Montero said this could be the first recorded birth of twin hermaphrodites in this town. He said the babies were doing well and could be discharged from the hospital soon.
Remedial surgery
The mother, a member of the Tagakaulo tribe, said she was very happy with the birth of the babies but worried about how they would cope with having two genitals when they grow up. “I want my children to live normal lives. Maybe they can have some surgery to remedy their situation,” she said.
If there was a surgical solution to correct the twins’ condition, Ferrer said she would have to ask help from groups offering medical assistance to poor families.
She said her husband earned a small living tending their small farm.
Source: Click here
This is a service of the
Organisation Intersex International
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Divine Sex Changes in Genesis
TransScript: Divine Sex Changes in Genesis
by Megan Rohrer
Saturday, February 21, 2009
When culture began to believe that men were superior to women, it reinterpreted the queer creation story into a story of a woman coming from a man in order to reinforce cultural assumptions. And for centuries, patriarchal assumptions continued to reinterpret and sometimes guide our scientific assumptions of sex and gender.1
Still, the earliest listeners and readers of our sacred scriptures believed that sex changes were a miracle of God(dess), beginning with the first sex reassignment surgery that was preformed by God(dess) trans-forming the intersexual Adam into a male Adam and female Eve.2
This first sex change was not the final act of creation that ended the need for any other sex changes. Ancient Israelites believed that there were more than two genders: male, female, barren women and Eunuchs.3 While rejecting the assumption that you cannot be fully a woman or man if you cannot procreate, we must continue to lift up the sacred stories of the God(dess) who not only performs sex change miracles but uses gender queer individuals as agents of God(dess)'s work in the world.
The earliest readers of the Hebrew Bible believed that barren women and circumcised men were models of the androgynous ideal (like the Divine Androgen).4 This means that God(dess)'s command that all men be circumcised could be said to be a requirement that all faithful believers undergo a physical sex change. Numerous barren women also received divine sex changes when God(dess) notices them and opens their wombs: Sarai,
Rebecca, Leah, Rachael, Zulaikaha, and Hannah.5
While the type of sex change that comes from circumcision or the opening of a womb seems very different then the surgical and hormonal sex changes that some transsexuals undergo, the story of Dinah's sex change may speak more to the contemporary transsexual experience.6 This story begins with Jacob, a character so gender queer, that even Luther notices.7 But, how could he not notice when the text seems to go out of its way to note that everything that Jacob does is feminine: female pronouns are used to describe him and it is noted that he "dwells in tents" (Gen 25:27) which were known to be the space of women. Even more queer is the fact that this effeminate male is able to amass so much masculine power, which the patriarchy of the time defined as the ability to "take" multiple wives and produce many male children.8
Jacob's children come as the result of at least two divine sex changes (Leah's womb is opened in 29:31 and Rachael's is opened in 30:22) and ultimately produces twelve male offspring, who become known as the twelve tribes of Israel. Though its not recorded in the text, ancient readers believed that after eleven of the sons were born (six to Leah, two to Bilhah and two to Zilpah), that Leah prayed to God(dess) to have a girl so that her sister Rachael could bear Jacob's final male child, Joseph.9
While some sources believed that Dinah's sex change occurred in Leah's womb and others believed it was happened after Dinah was born they all agree that it was God(dess) who changed Dinah's sex from male to female. Yet most commentators fail to notice that the cost to Dinah for her divine sex change is the loss of the privileges given to men in a patriarchal society.10 As a woman Dinah endures the subjugation commonly endured by other women of her time when she is raped by Sehecham (34:2-7) and "treated like a whore" (34:31). Dinah ultimately dies giving birth to Benjamin.11
Despite Dinah's unfortunate fate, the prayer of Leah has been used by trans individuals as model for praying to God(dess) for a sex change. Qalonymos ben Qalonymos in Even Bohan (1322) prayed:
Our Father in Heaven! You who did miracles to our fathers by fire and water; you who turned [the furnace] in Ur of the Chaldees [cold] to stop it from burning [Abraham]; you who turned Dinah in her mother's womb [into a girl]; you who turned the rod [of Moses] into a serpent in front of tens of thousands; you who turned [Moses'] pure arm into a [leper's] white arm; you who turned the Red Sea into land, and the sea floor into solid and dried-up earth; you who turned the rock into a lake, the cliff into a fountain -- if only you would turn me from male to female.12
The sex changes in Genesis could be read as enforcing strict gender binaries, as God(dess)'s way to trans-form the gender queer into "normal" procreative men and women. But, we have already seen how God(dess) uses Jacob in gender queer ways, without correcting or changing the ways Jacob is queer in gender. Michael Carden, who called Jacob a "pretty-boy nancy,"13 describes Jacob's youngest son Joseph as "twitling, minicing, in rainbow garb and with painted eyes, Joseph is a flaming young queen."14 God(dess) continues to use gender non-conforming individuals not only in the book of Genesis, but throughout our sacred texts.
1. See Laquer, Thomas, Making Sex: Body and Gender From the Greeks to Freud, Harvard University Press, 1992.
2. The Jewish midrash argues that: "Men and women were originally undivided, i.e. Adam was at first created bisexual, a hermaphrodite." [Plaut, W. Gunther, The Torah: Genesis -- A Modern Commentary, 1974, 24.] See also, Gottwald, N. K. 1985. The Hebrew Bible -- a socio-literary introduction. Includes index. Fortress Press: Philadelphia
3. Carden, Michael, "Genesis/Bereshit," The Queer Bible Commentary, Ed. Guest, Deryn, et. al., SCM Press, 2006, 27.
4. Ibid, 33, 35 and 49.
5. Ibid.
6. See Carden, Michael, "Genesis/Bereshit," 47-51.
7. LW5: Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 26-30: Genesis 29:29
8. See Carden, Michael, "Genesis/Bereshit," 47-51 and Stone, Ken, "1 and 2 Samuel," The Queer Bible Commentary, Ed. Guest, Deryn, et. al., SCM Press, 2006, 212.
9. See Berakhot 60a and Tanhuma 19:5.
10. Rosen, Tova, Circumcised Cinderella, 89.
11. Carden, Michael, "Genesis/Bereshit," 51.
12. As it appears in Rosen, Tova, "Circumcised Cinderella," 87.
13. Carden, Michael, "Genesis/Bereshit," 50.
14. Ibid, 53.
Posted by Rev. Megan M. Rohrer at 1:38 PM
http://queerbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2009/02/divine-sex-changes-in-genesis.html
This is a service of the
Organisation Intersex International
by Megan Rohrer
Saturday, February 21, 2009
When culture began to believe that men were superior to women, it reinterpreted the queer creation story into a story of a woman coming from a man in order to reinforce cultural assumptions. And for centuries, patriarchal assumptions continued to reinterpret and sometimes guide our scientific assumptions of sex and gender.1
Still, the earliest listeners and readers of our sacred scriptures believed that sex changes were a miracle of God(dess), beginning with the first sex reassignment surgery that was preformed by God(dess) trans-forming the intersexual Adam into a male Adam and female Eve.2
This first sex change was not the final act of creation that ended the need for any other sex changes. Ancient Israelites believed that there were more than two genders: male, female, barren women and Eunuchs.3 While rejecting the assumption that you cannot be fully a woman or man if you cannot procreate, we must continue to lift up the sacred stories of the God(dess) who not only performs sex change miracles but uses gender queer individuals as agents of God(dess)'s work in the world.
The earliest readers of the Hebrew Bible believed that barren women and circumcised men were models of the androgynous ideal (like the Divine Androgen).4 This means that God(dess)'s command that all men be circumcised could be said to be a requirement that all faithful believers undergo a physical sex change. Numerous barren women also received divine sex changes when God(dess) notices them and opens their wombs: Sarai,
Rebecca, Leah, Rachael, Zulaikaha, and Hannah.5
While the type of sex change that comes from circumcision or the opening of a womb seems very different then the surgical and hormonal sex changes that some transsexuals undergo, the story of Dinah's sex change may speak more to the contemporary transsexual experience.6 This story begins with Jacob, a character so gender queer, that even Luther notices.7 But, how could he not notice when the text seems to go out of its way to note that everything that Jacob does is feminine: female pronouns are used to describe him and it is noted that he "dwells in tents" (Gen 25:27) which were known to be the space of women. Even more queer is the fact that this effeminate male is able to amass so much masculine power, which the patriarchy of the time defined as the ability to "take" multiple wives and produce many male children.8
Jacob's children come as the result of at least two divine sex changes (Leah's womb is opened in 29:31 and Rachael's is opened in 30:22) and ultimately produces twelve male offspring, who become known as the twelve tribes of Israel. Though its not recorded in the text, ancient readers believed that after eleven of the sons were born (six to Leah, two to Bilhah and two to Zilpah), that Leah prayed to God(dess) to have a girl so that her sister Rachael could bear Jacob's final male child, Joseph.9
While some sources believed that Dinah's sex change occurred in Leah's womb and others believed it was happened after Dinah was born they all agree that it was God(dess) who changed Dinah's sex from male to female. Yet most commentators fail to notice that the cost to Dinah for her divine sex change is the loss of the privileges given to men in a patriarchal society.10 As a woman Dinah endures the subjugation commonly endured by other women of her time when she is raped by Sehecham (34:2-7) and "treated like a whore" (34:31). Dinah ultimately dies giving birth to Benjamin.11
Despite Dinah's unfortunate fate, the prayer of Leah has been used by trans individuals as model for praying to God(dess) for a sex change. Qalonymos ben Qalonymos in Even Bohan (1322) prayed:
Our Father in Heaven! You who did miracles to our fathers by fire and water; you who turned [the furnace] in Ur of the Chaldees [cold] to stop it from burning [Abraham]; you who turned Dinah in her mother's womb [into a girl]; you who turned the rod [of Moses] into a serpent in front of tens of thousands; you who turned [Moses'] pure arm into a [leper's] white arm; you who turned the Red Sea into land, and the sea floor into solid and dried-up earth; you who turned the rock into a lake, the cliff into a fountain -- if only you would turn me from male to female.12
The sex changes in Genesis could be read as enforcing strict gender binaries, as God(dess)'s way to trans-form the gender queer into "normal" procreative men and women. But, we have already seen how God(dess) uses Jacob in gender queer ways, without correcting or changing the ways Jacob is queer in gender. Michael Carden, who called Jacob a "pretty-boy nancy,"13 describes Jacob's youngest son Joseph as "twitling, minicing, in rainbow garb and with painted eyes, Joseph is a flaming young queen."14 God(dess) continues to use gender non-conforming individuals not only in the book of Genesis, but throughout our sacred texts.
1. See Laquer, Thomas, Making Sex: Body and Gender From the Greeks to Freud, Harvard University Press, 1992.
2. The Jewish midrash argues that: "Men and women were originally undivided, i.e. Adam was at first created bisexual, a hermaphrodite." [Plaut, W. Gunther, The Torah: Genesis -- A Modern Commentary, 1974, 24.] See also, Gottwald, N. K. 1985. The Hebrew Bible -- a socio-literary introduction. Includes index. Fortress Press: Philadelphia
3. Carden, Michael, "Genesis/Bereshit," The Queer Bible Commentary, Ed. Guest, Deryn, et. al., SCM Press, 2006, 27.
4. Ibid, 33, 35 and 49.
5. Ibid.
6. See Carden, Michael, "Genesis/Bereshit," 47-51.
7. LW5: Lectures on Genesis: Chapters 26-30: Genesis 29:29
8. See Carden, Michael, "Genesis/Bereshit," 47-51 and Stone, Ken, "1 and 2 Samuel," The Queer Bible Commentary, Ed. Guest, Deryn, et. al., SCM Press, 2006, 212.
9. See Berakhot 60a and Tanhuma 19:5.
10. Rosen, Tova, Circumcised Cinderella, 89.
11. Carden, Michael, "Genesis/Bereshit," 51.
12. As it appears in Rosen, Tova, "Circumcised Cinderella," 87.
13. Carden, Michael, "Genesis/Bereshit," 50.
14. Ibid, 53.
Posted by Rev. Megan M. Rohrer at 1:38 PM
http://queerbiblestudy.blogspot.com/2009/02/divine-sex-changes-in-genesis.html
This is a service of the
Organisation Intersex International
Love
"The word “love” exists for a reason and it cannot be defined rationally because there are more important regions of our consciousness to be explored. The regions of the heart cannot be expressed in mere words. There is a reality beyond words and all human knowledge which depends on language to express it can only hint at the great mystery of life. There is a place for silence and reverence. There is a place for awe." - Dedicated to my partner Jeannie Kay
- Curtis E. Hinkle
'House' Recap: The Hermaphrodite
The episode starts with a family deciding whether their newborn will be a male or female, since (s)he was born with both genitalia. It then flashes to a young big eyed boy who wins the basketball game for his team, and then falls over in pain. House takes on the case without argument and cheerfully asks Wilson for his food instead of stealing it, and then when the parents ask for a completely unnecessary MRI, he agrees to it. This freaks Wilson out to the point of distraction, because this is not the evil, malicious, wonderful House he knows and has a bromance with. When he asks Cuddy if she slept with House, she denies it but becomes suspicious herself of the normally acerbic doctor.
Foreteen are excited that House is ignoring them now that they 'broke up' and seem like children themselves. This is ruined by the fact that both Kutner and Taub reassure them that breaking up was the best thing to do, and point out things that suck about the other partner. Taub shows that Foreman has no personality (HA), and Kutner that 13 would probably just leave Foreman for a woman. They start to bicker, and then realize the two already know they are still together. But House hasn't ... what?! Foreman decides at that time that House must be on heroin, which Wilson has come to suspect as well. Wilson confronts House at dinner, and House admits to being on methadone; a totally legal drug that nevertheless might kill him. It stopped his breathing earlier in the episode, and Foreman had to twist his nipples to wake him up. Not kidding.
To read the complete article: Click here
This is a service of the
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
TV Recap: House – The Softer Side
By Charmaine P. Dennis: 2009-02-24
I haven’t had a kid yet, but I imagine having my first should be pretty scary. There are so many things that can go wrong when having a child: Down’s syndrome, a heart defect, cleft palate, freckles (no offense, I love my spotty brothers and sisters; I’m just glad it ain’t me). Most parents just hope and pray for the best, then count fingers and toes when their little one pops out. Unfortunately, the couple on tonight’s episode of House receive news a little more serious than a skin condition. A flashback scene shows them in a hospital room, mom cradling her newborn baby. Congratulations! It’s a…? A doctor tells them that they got a two-for-one special in their bundle of joy: their child is a genetic mosaic, born with both male and female DNA. Surgery can “correct” the ambiguous genitalia, but they need to decide whether they like pink or blue.
This is a service of the
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
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